By Eunice Hilda A. Mensah
Accra, Nov. 2, GNA – Dr Francis Aboagye-Nyame, a fellow of the West African Postgraduate College of Pharmacists (WAPCP) has called on the government and the private sector to disconnect pharmacists from just delivery and distribution of products for healthcare delivery.
He said the pharmaceutical supply chain was not just about efficiency but a matter of life and death as it formed the backbone of healthcare delivery systems in Ghana, adding: “Without the Pharmaceutical system, even the strongest healthcare system will fail.”
Dr Aboagye-Nyame made the call at the 2024 Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference of the WAPCP, Ghana Chapter in Accra on the theme: “Quality Pharmaceutical Commodities Supply Chain Management: The Role of the Specialist Pharmacist in Ghana”.
He said Specialist Pharmacists performed varied roles in healthcare delivery and promoted universal health coverage but were sometimes subjected to just issuing of drugs or products.
Among their roles are ensuring quality assurance and regulatory compliance, combating counterfeits, procurement (ensuring the right products at the right time), supply chain optimization and technology integration, pharmacovigilance and post market surveillance, warehouse and distribution management, policy advocacy and leadership in healthcare reform, capacity strengthening and education and collaboration and coordination, he said.
Dr Aboagye-Nyame, also a Fellow of the Ghana College of Pharmacists, said more than 30 per cent of global population regularly lacked access to essential medicines according to the WHO and false and substandard medicines could lead to treatment failure, drug resistance, or death.
“We are important because of the 68 Uzbekistan children who died because of contaminated cough syrup and because the 66 children who died in the Gambia after being given cough syrup. We cannot allow these to keep happening.” he said.
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, he said there were about 267,000 deaths annually from antimalarial medicines and another 169,271 deaths from antibiotics to treat severe pneumonia in children.
“We need to move away from expecting sick people to come to us and find a way to treat them when they need treatment. How many of you when having a headache, migraine will want to walk for one hour to access a service,? he advised.
Dr Bernard Okoe-Boye, the Minister of Health in a statement read on his behalf by his Technical Advisor, Dr Darius Osei, reiterated the paramount importance of the pharmaceutical supply chain system, saying it provided essential and vital services for life.
“Interruptions, disruptions and assaults on the supply chain can therefore bring high financial loss and loss of quality life and life itself in worse cases..
“It can’t be disputed that while medicines are used by all health personnel, pharmacists are considered the medicine experts and are an important league in the chain to ensure efficient and effective delivery of healthcare,” he said.
Dr Okoe-Boye admonished the Postgraduate College to work with the regulator to ensure that the quality of pharmaceutical products were of high standards.
Dr Martha Gyansa-Lutterodt, Chairperson of WAPCP, Ghana Chapter, said the expertise of the supply chain drove success of healthcare delivery and the wellbeing of those in need.
She said the College was committed to nurturing talents and skills with competencies to excel in supply chain management and to be global leaders in the supply chain.
Their role, she said was critical and their collective collaborative work in managing the COVID-19 was a testament to that.
She said education was the premise of progress in every society and family and asked specialist pharmacists to empower themselves with the spirit to lead and innovate for the progress of healthcare delivery.
Dr Samuel Kow Donkor, President, Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana, emphasised the need for the Ministry of Health and Ghana Health Service to give them the right placement and recognise their roles to ensure they met international standards.
He also urged policy makers to collaborate with them to promote the tremendous value they brought to Ghana.
GNA